The right to self-determination and the case of Yugoslavia

Abstract

The recent revival of the right to self-determination in cases like Yugoslavia is indicative of the eventual emergence of a new special customary
rule, allowing the secession of a people or a nation (but not of a minority)
from an existing independent state, in cases involving federal and multiethnic states. Historical rivalries, insufficient federal function, and economic crisis,
combined with the failure of diplomatic interventions to lead to the disintegration of Yugoslavia. The current problems of the country raise once more the
fundamental question of the optimum size of state structure.